Good morning! We had a ton of rain here yesterday that came in waves of heavy downpours. When I got home from work, I noticed that the street was flooding near the storm drain on the side of our property. This had never happened before and it kind of took me by surprise. I went over with a stick and cleared the drain so that the water would flow down like it was supposed to and in a matter of minutes it was back to normal.
As I was clearing the drain I noticed that a tree branch had fallen across the grates. This was all it took to begin obstructing leaves from flowing through and they created a blockage that would not allow the drain to operate as it was designed to.
This got me thinking about our relationship with God. Sometimes our lives get clogged up by things that we allow to take the place that only God deserves. There are times when we know this is taking place and others when we don’t realize it.
Some of the things that can begin to come before God in our lives are not necessarily bad things. They can be things like spending time with our family, responsibilities we have to take care of things around the house, or doing things that we enjoy like playing sports, reading a book, and watching movies. None of these things are bad in and of themselves, but when they come before our relationship with God they become an obstacle that hinders us from operating as we were designed to.
“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.”
Exodus 20:3-4
The Bible tells us to have NO other gods before the ONE TRUE GOD. This was written during a time in history and culture where polytheism (the belief in or worship of more than one god) was widespread. God was establishing the expectation for the Israelites to worship Him and Him alone!
But this is not just for the Israelites, it is for us today! This may sound a little tough and I’m just as guilty as anyone, but we have allowed too many things to come before our command to LOVE GOD and LOVE OTHERS! We have allowed too many things to come before our mission of making disciples – teaching people how to follow Jesus!
I have always been challenged when it comes to tithing, not in the fiscal sense (giving the first 10% of my income back to God), but in the tithe of my time. What I am about to say may not be for everyone, but I think it will spark some thought and potentially shift mindsets when it comes to priorities.
What would happen if we gave 10% of our time back to God? WOW, what a thought! Yes, I am talking about in a twenty four hour day giving 2.4 hours back to God – to do things like spending time in fellowship with Him, serving Him, or worshipping Him! I know… this almost sounds CRAZY! I already need more time in a day to accomplish all that I want and need to, how could I ever give up that much time?
I would reason that if we did this, it would bring clarity and purpose to everything else we did. It would take discipline, but it is possible. How easy is it for us to spend two plus hours in the following scenarios:
- Watch our kids/grandkids play sports
- Watch a movie, binge our favorite tv shows, or watch our favorite sports teams
- Fill in the blank with whatever else you like to do
This is a heavy thought! If you are currently spending little to no time reading God’s Word and praying, just start with something. Start by reading one verse a day (if you don’t have a Bible, download the Bible app) and offering a prayer from your heart.
When we develop a daily relationship with God, next we will need to remove the ‘sticks’ that are clogging up our lives – those things that we are allowing to come before God. We need to begin to examine the things in our lives and ask God to help us re-prioritize the things we are currently doing. Remove anything that is pulling us away from spending time with God and serving Him!
Please don’t hear me wrong this morning, I’m not saying we HAVE to spend 2.4 hours a day with Jesus. I wanted to put the idea out there to challenge us because I know that it challenges me to spend time on things that are important to Him. I don’t want to waste a minute of the life that God has blessed me with! This is a daily maintenance that needs to take place, removing the obstacles that keep us from loving and serving God!
Let’s take a moment this morning to think about one thing that has the potential to slow down our spiritual growth and choose to put God first so that we can fulfill His purpose for our lives today!
Heavenly Father, thank You for freeing us from the bondage of sin. Thank You for giving us new life! Help us to not allow anything in our lives to take precedence over You! Help us to do a daily maintenance of looking intently at the things we spend time doing to ensure we are doing things that honor You! In Jesus Name – AMEN!
Be Transformed 